John McCain ran one of the most cynical and – surprise! – doomed presidential campaigns in memory. His soul is now on eBay somewhere (Mark Salter got a cut of the proceeds). He foisted on the country a person whom he had barely met and whom his campaign had barely vetted as presidential material if he, a 72 year-old survivor of torture and cancer, were to kick the bucket in office. And when asked perfectly legitimate questions about how he committed this act of supreme recklessness, he won't say. Matt Lauer asked the obvious question and McCain bridled:
Lauer: From page 363, it says, and I'm combining two quotes here, in judging Palin, 'was relying on vetting so hasty and haphazard it barely merited the name.' 'No one had interviewed her husband, no one had spoken to her political enemies, no vetters had descended on Alaska.' Is it a fair assessment?
McCain: I
wouldn't know.
The fact is that I'm proud of Sarah Palin, I'm proud of the campaign we waged, she energized our party, she will be a major factor in American politics in the future, and I'm proud of our campaign–
This crap is a formula he has adopted to avoid taking responsibility for his criminal negligence as a presidential candidate and contempt for the office of the presidency. Lauer, to his enormous credit, kept pushing:
Matt: But your comment that you just said, "I wouldn't know," is somewhat surprising to me. You were the presidential candidate.
McCain: Look, I wouldn't know what the sources are, nor care. I do know–I do know that I'm proud of my campaign, I'm proud of Sarah Palin, I'm proud of the job that we did, and I will always be grateful for having her has my running mate and the support we got from millions of Americans. Okay? I am not gonna spend time looking back over what happened over a year ago when we've got two wars to fight, 10 percent unemployment in my state, and things to do. I'm sorry, you'll have to get others to comment on it.
The Dish 